


Sticky Fingers

by AzuraJae



Series: Storge [2]
Category: DCU (Comics), Shazam! (2019), Shazam! | Captain Marvel (Comics)
Genre: A bit of trauma, Comfort, Fluff and Humor, Freddy can be a good boi, Gen, More fluff and support, Past, Shazam spoilers, Shazamily - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 14:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19871293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzuraJae/pseuds/AzuraJae
Summary: Freddy had noticed that his foster brother and best friend, well known runaway turned nice happy kid, Billy Batson, had the worst case of sticky fingers he has ever seen in his life. Though to be honest, he hasn’t been alive for that long, he was only 14 years old after all, but still. It was pretty bad.





	Sticky Fingers

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this story a while back and it's been on hold for a while, but I finally managed to finish it. I seem to like writing fics surrounding Billy's habits and traumas from his sibling's point of view. It's easier to write. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Freddy had noticed that his foster brother and best friend, well known runaway turned nice happy kid, Billy Batson, had the worst case of sticky fingers he has ever seen in his life. Though to be honest, he hasn’t been alive for  _ that  _ long, he was only 14 years old after all, but still. It was pretty  _ bad. _

Ever since Billy had stolen (and lost) his precious Superman bullet, Freddy had already pinned Billy as some sort of thief. It was only a natural conclusion, Billy had spent a lot of time on the streets as he did in foster homes. A bit of a wild streak to him. Sure he was a thief, but Freddy thought he would grow out of it or just  _ not  _ do it. 

Whenever there was something like a Granola Bar someone on the kitchen counter, or sometimes valuable things out in the open, they would just  _ not  _ be there anymore if you left it alone long enough. Eventually, Freddy realized it was  _ Billy  _ who was the thief. It was one incident, when Freddy noticed Billy casually swiping it. So casually in fact, if you weren’t looking for it, you probably wouldn’t have noticed. Billy seemed so adept at his thieving sleight of hands that after a while, Freddy realized that Billy sometimes wasn’t even doing it on  _ purpose.  _

Weird, right?

Most of the time, Billy would realize what he was doing and quickly put it back where he found it, especially if he almost accidentally swiped something from a convenience store. Other times, items around the house would turn up missing until Billy returned it all as soon as he remembered. It became a sort of a known fact that if you were missing something that would fit in your pocket, it was likely Billy had it. 

Freddy thought that Billy just had some sick kick out of stealing things from other people, but he soon became aware that Billy just had a minute case of kleptomania. At least he figured. Why else would he be stealing things from everybody?

“Dude, like you gotta stop just...taking things. Not cool.” Freddy told him one day, as they were chilling and ‘doing homework’ in their rooms. “Darla almost freaked out when she lost her pretty pen.”

Billy looked at his foster brother, surprised at the sudden mention. Then he looked guilty. “I really don’t mean it.” He looked a bit uncomfortable, trying to pretend it didn’t bother him.

Freddy looked at him curiously. Billy wasn’t an illogical person. He knew that there probably  _ had  _ to be another reason why he did the things he did. “So what gives? You taking other people’s things?” 

“Well...long story.” said Billy a bit quietly, giving off the impression that he just didn’t want to talk. 

“Well we got a  _ long  _ time today, pal. Come on, spill the beans.” countered Freddy. He had a feeling that if he didn’t try to pry the answer out of Billy a little, that this issue may  _ never  _ be solved. It was becoming annoying, for everyone in the house, even if no one was willing to admit it.

Billy was quiet for a while, seeming to be deep in thought. He looked at Freddy with a questioning gaze and Freddy returned it. He finally sighed. “Fine.” He shifted in his seat, crossing his legs. “You know how when you’re running away, you don’t  _ exactly  _ have a lot of cash on you?”

“Well, actually, I’ve never ran away from home, ever, in my life.” Freddy corrected him. “So I really don’t.” Freddy didn’t mean to sound rude, but that was just the way he is. “Uh, sorry. No offense.” Billy seemed to get it and he rolled his eyes.

“Telling you now that runaways don’t exactly have an allowance or anything. Things like food becomes really important.” Billy explained. Freddy began to realize. “You get it now? I didn’t exactly have the world’s hand to eat out of, I...stole, anything I could get my hands on. Anything to eat, anything to make a penny so I  _ could _ eat.”

“Sounds pretty rough.” Freddy frowned. Freddy has been in a loving foster home for most of his life, he had no idea what it was like to be a runaway, not that he could with his...whole situation.

Billy leaned back in the hair, looking away and yawning, pretending like it wasn’t that big of a deal. “That was my life before. Honestly, I’m not proud of it, but…” He brought his hands in front of his face and looked disappointingly at his fingers. “Old habits die hard.”

“At least now, you got all the food you can eat.” suggested Freddy hopefully. “I’m sure Rosa or Victor won’t mind if you ask for more snacks or requests for dinner.”

“I’d kill to have more of Victor’s lasagna.” said Billy thoughtfully, turning to look at his friend with a smile, before his face turned to a more serious look. He crossed his arms. “I’m trying my best to stop it.”

“I can help. If I see you doing it, I’ll remind you to stop. Don’t want you to get into trouble or anything.” offered Freddy, eager to help Billy get over his old habits.

“Sure. Whack me with your crutch or whatever.” suggested Billy. He blinked. “Not to hard though.  _ Lightly. _ ” 

“Gotcha.” replied Freddy with a mischievous look. Then he remembered something. He reached into his desk and tossed something to Billy, who caught it in midair.

“What’s this?” asked Billy, looking at the object curiously. It was a cube, but there were various buttons and doodads on it. 

“It’s a fidget cube.” Freddy explained. “I think it was Eugene’s but he didn’t want it anymore, so he gave it to me. It’s like a fidget spinner, but  _ less  _ memey, more for giving your hands something to twiddle with. Keep it.”

Billy tested the small object, fiddling it with his hands. He found it somewhat interesting and he played with the little buttons and grinned at Freddy. “Thanks, dude.”

“Heh, no problem.” Freddy said, then he giggled. “Look at you, big softie. Where’s the cold hard, Billy  _ now _ ?” 

Hearing the jab, Billy gave him an unimpressed look, threatening to throw the fidget cube at him before just slapping his friend on the arm lightly in response. The two began ribbing each other for a bit before  _ finally  _ finishing up the homework for that day. Freddy noticed, Billy looked a lot happier having got that stuff of his chest. 

Freddy didn’t mention Billy’s sticky fingers to anyone else. It seemed like it was a big decision for Billy to tell him such a thing, he didn’t talk a lot about his time on the street, especially not the younger kids or the parents, so this was a  _ really  _ big deal. Maybe Billy talked about it with Mary, this was the first time Billy has confessed something personal-ish about his past.

As per his word, Freddy gave Billy a light whack with his crutch or with his hand, or called his name out, or anything really, whenever he saw Billy compulsively pocketing something. Freddy also noticed that Billy took that fidget cube he gave him  _ everywhere.  _ He was certain that Billy kept it in his pocket, as always, even attaching it to a keychain so he wouldn’t lose it. Sometimes Freddy saw his hand in his pocket and he was obviously playing with it.

It wasn’t long before Billy began to slowly just stop, though he was still pretty good at finding things. Almost even better than Rosa. It’s like he had that secret mom sense and had a detector for finding things around the house. 

In the beginning, Freddy didn’t think that Billy was the type of person to treasure things given to him, but Billy was really attached to the fidget cube for years to come. It had become sort of his prized possession and Freddy noticed it anytime Billy was around. He kept it close. Freddy felt a little embarrassed, knowing that Billy treasured something he gave, but it felt good to be of service. At this moment, Freddy realized that he didn’t to be a powerful wizard-powered superhero to be a hero. 

At least, a hero is what Freddy liked to call himself to Billy...in this very small moment...hey, he can dream right?

**Author's Note:**

> To me, Billy seemed to have a penchant for stealing things, with the police guy's lunch and Freddy's Superman bullet. It makes sense to me that he would still have to grow out of his runaway tendencies. Freddy is there to help tho, with a whack of his crutch 8D
> 
> The thing about the fidget cube, my brother has ADHD. I got him a fidget cube because he had a tendency to just move a lot and do things with his hands, so the fidget cube helped. That's how I got the idea for Freddy to give this to Billy. It feels like he would just have one, Eugene too xD
> 
> Now that I have written a story with both Mary and Freddy, time to move on to the other siblings and maybe the parents...hmm....


End file.
